Howard Terpningpage 4

The Great Plains was the crucible within which
Indians, buffalo and horses were fused into a distinct
prairie culture that brought about the epoch of Plains
Indian ascendancy. It is not possible to understand anything at all about Indians in the early American West
without understanding their relationship to the land,
and how they perceived that relationship. To the
Indian, the Earth was his mother. She provided a place
for him upon her bosom, and wood and water for his
needs. She gave grass to the buffalo and the horse, and
favored her chosen children with a mother's munificence. The Indian saw himself as a transitory tenant
upon the land. He would prosper, or perish, according
to the unfathomable intentions of the mother. The land
was a sentient, living entity to the Indian, worthy and
deserving of respect and reverence. The Indian lived
with the land, rather than struggling against it or
attempting to shape it to his own design.